Back in January when I started this whole “getting to know the community” thing, I met a couple guys named @matto and @snook, a.k.a. Matthew Oliphant and Jonathan Snook respectively. Matthew had been following me based on David Armano‘s recommendation, and I had followed him back because, well, I basically didn’t know anybody on Twitter. [Keep Reading…]
PayPal’s Live Chat Falls Short
I just had a very strange interaction with a PayPal sales rep. I suppose I was sitting on the Website Payments Standard Pricing page for a while, so I was a prime target for a sell. A pop-up appeared (that I failed to capture) asking me if I needed help, so I decided to say [Keep Reading…]
The User Experience Relationship
Last week a co-worker forwarded these images on the differences in how people communicate to the customer based on their role, e.g., marketing vs. advertising vs. branding. I thought the design one was pretty clever, but of course I had to add my own for user experience. For user experience designers, it isn’t about us. [Keep Reading…]
Facebook Chat
Last Sunday, April 6, brought the launch of the long-awaited Facebook Chat. According to TechCrunch, the feature is so far only available to select members. According to Facebook, “we’re rolling this out slowly.” Not entirely surprising given the backlash that has previously occurred when FB releases new stuff without any warning or feedback and then [Keep Reading…]
Flickr introduces video
Flickr announced today that they are now offering video. Now when you log in to Flickr, this is what you see: Before I go any further, I have to admit that while I watch a lot of video online, I don’t post much video online. Aside from helping my mom post her videos to YouTube, [Keep Reading…]
Text message your order to Amazon
Amazon launched a new service yesterday called TextBuyIt in which you can look up and compare product info via SMS and purchase with your pre-existing account. I tried it out this morning by texting “Purple cow” to short code 262966 (“Amazon” on the keypad). A moment later I got a response that read: Reply w/1 [Keep Reading…]
People you may know
Earlier this week, Facebook released a new feature called “People You May Know.” Three random friends of friends are displayed in the right sidebar of your homepage in the hopes that you’ll make more connections. When you click the “see all” link, a longer list of possible friends is offered up. Of the 27 people [Keep Reading…]
WordPress 2.5 is released
Two days ago WordPress released a sneak peek of their latest version, 2.5. Redesigned from the ground up by the team at Happy Cog Studios, the WordPress Admin area now has improved navigation, organization and integration. The visual design looks pretty sleek, too. The folks at WordPress included a lot of screenshots in their post [Keep Reading…]
My BlackBerry Wishlist
RIM, Mike Lazaridis, if you’re out there, listen up. Here are my recommendations for improving the BlackBerry user experience: 1- Provide the ability to “Add To Existing Contact.” I don’t want to have to copy a new phone number or e-mail address from a message and paste it into the entry in my address book. [Keep Reading…]
(In)Consistency in keyboard shortcuts
More and more I’ve been using web apps in lieu of the traditional desktop applications I used for years. Primarily it’s because, like many of you, I have a home computer and a work computer; storing information online makes it far easier to access from both locations, particularly when one’s a Mac and one’s a [Keep Reading…]
